Water Quality

Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta says the quality of water and air in Java is the worst among islands nationwide. As a province, Jakarta has the worst water and air quality.

Citing the 2011 report on the country's environment, Gusti said Jakarta and several other cities in Java designated only 10 percent of their areas as "green areas", in contrast to the required 30 percent.

Read full story: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/08/07/java-has-worst-water-air-q...

It has been two years since the government embarked on a grand scheme to clean Citarum River and its tributaries, which 25 million people depend on water and electricity.

The first year was spent planning the gargantuan task of cleaning the heavily polluted river, while last year saw the start of several programs out of a total of 80 that are planned.

As is usual when a new government comes in, there has been a lot of talk of grand and expensive projects to move the country forward. An example of this is the Pheu Thai Party's proposal to ''reclaim'' land along the coast of Thailand by filling in mangrove forests and mudflats and building a dam 10km from the shoreline in Samut Prakan and Samut Sakhon provinces.

New Zealand delegates met with the governor of Nakhon Pathom province during the scoping mission visit.

Challenge

Water quality in the Chao Phraya River section affected by massive amounts of sugar discharged from a sunken barge is expected to return to normal in three days, the Pollution Control Department says.

A sugar barge sank in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district of Ayutthaya on Tuesday, releasing about 2,300 tonnes of sugar into the river.

The sugar has been dissolving and polluting the water. However, PCD officials predicted that the water quality would return to normal by Sunday due to the large amount of water in the river and rainfall.